People in your life
by CharlieWise
Summary: Takes place after SHIVA, but than goes his own way.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: as much as I want to, I'm not the brilliant person that made NCIS happen. NCIS and all characters and references belongs to its respected owners. The rest is mine though;)**

Ziva's mind like so many times before in the past few days returned to her and Tony's goodbye. It was on the front of her mind the whole flight back to Tel Aviv, the days there were filled with preparations for her fathers burial, but her nights were filled with thoughts of Tony. When her eyes closed trying to not let the tears fall she remembered his smile. While she lay in her bed not being able to sleep she remembered how he hold her during their hug. When her father's casket was lowered in the ground and when tears escaped her she thought of the whispered words he spoke.

_´at lo levad'_

She knew, that was what she had told him that. She just couldn't help feeling alone these last few days. Being in her father's house together with some of her aunts and one of her uncles, her great aunt and some of her family for Shiva had not helped the feeling. For her it has just put more emphasis on the fact that she did not have her family anymore only extended family. Shmeil had stayed by her side through it all. She wasn't sure if she would have gotten through the past few days without him. Tears threatened to spill again as the lonely and cold feeling crawled around her heart again.

"Are you okay?"

Ziva's head snapped up to the young woman that had been sitting next to her on the plane for the past nine and a half hours. The young woman could not have been older than 25 and Ziva could clearly hear the American accent when she had said shalom when she sat down next to her those nine and a half hours ago. Ziva quickly pulled up her brave face and smiled softly at the woman. "I am fine, just lost in thought."

The woman smiled knowingly. "Left someone behind?"

"In a way." Ziva responded and turned her head away to look back out the window.

"Okay so why are you going to DC?" The woman asked and Ziva let go of a soft sigh, the woman clearly had enough of the nine and a half hours of silence. Of which the woman had mostly spent asleep.

"I am going home." Said turning back to the woman who clearly looked surprised.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just thought because of your accent that you know." The woman responded flustered.

"Do not worry about it." Ziva responded hoping that would be the end of the conversation, but clearly the other woman had other ideas.

"So what were you lost in thought about if it was not someone you left behind."

"Look, I'm sorry but I do not know you." Ziva responded politely. Not feeling the need to spill her complicated feelings about her father's death and the care and support she got from her partner.

"Oh yes, I'm sorry. Force of habit I guess. Dr June Wagner." She said holding her hand out.

"Ziva David." Ziva responded shaking the woman's hand, then in the hope to turn the conversation around she added. "So why were you in Tel Aviv?"

The good doctor immediately started to tell her about her research between children in Tel Aviv and in Washington DC. After years of practice with Tony, Ziva pretended to listen while her thoughts returned to Tony and their goodbye and she couldn't help but wonder how their reunion would be. They had parted hugging, but the next time she saw him would probably be tomorrow at NCIS headquarters. He would probably just greet her and maybe ask if she was okay. With their new us he would try to talk to her when they were alone. Ziva realized that she really did want to talk to him. She had pushed him away before and he hadn't backed down. She hadn't really expected him to stop, but she had not expected him to be so serious about it. Even when she let him in just before getting on the plane he had surprised her. Shmeil had looked at her when she got on the plane; she still had some tears in her eyes.

"_Are you alright my dear?" Shmeil asked her._

"_Yes, I am fine." Ziva responded._

"_What did mister Dinotzo say?" Shmeil prodded._

"_At lo levad" Ziva smiled softly while looking in the bag Tony had brought with him, seeing all her favorite magazines, hoping Shmeil would let her gather her thoughts for a moment. No such luck._

"_He has been a quick study I guess." Shmeil responded before opening his own book and started reading._

_That snapped Ziva to attention. "What do you mean? A quick study?"_

_Shmeil looked up from his book, Ziva was looking at him eyes big with curiosity._

"_Well after our last meeting with mister Dinotzo, he gave me a call asking if I could teach him Hebrew, but I've not thought him those words. That's all him." _

"_Tony is studying Hebrew?" Ziva asked at to which Shmeil nodded. "Why?"_

"_Well dear if I had to guess I would say for you." Shmeil said turning back to his book again._

_Ziva had wanted to respond but she had no idea how. She had known Tony spook some Hebrew; he had spoken Hebrew to her four years ago. She had figured he had just looked it up on the Internet, but now, she didn't know what to make of it._

He had stepped up, she figured. He had put in an effort to communicate with her on yet another level. Had put into an effort to understand her better. Time and time again he did this for her and maybe she was ready to put in the same effort for him and let him in even more.

"So it was funny that in the end nothing matched with my hypotheses." Dr Wagner said overly excited.

"That is interesting." Ziva responded trying to pull her focus to the woman sitting next to her instead of Tony. With one last conscious decision to put an even bigger effort into her relationship with Tony she truly turned her focus to the woman next to her.

"I guess that our cultures are extremely different but there are also lots of similarities." Ziva responded.

"Yes, but most people don't take the time to search for those similarities. Children do though. They have such beautiful input it's amazing." June said and Ziva nodded.

"I guess that's why I love children psychology so much, they can truly surprise you. Do you have children Ziva?" June asked.

A flash of Tony holding the picture of her in her pregnancy outfit went through her mind before it turning to her father holding the same picture in his hand and it hit her that her father would never see her marry or have children. He would never be a grandfather and her eyes started to prickle with tears again. "No." She said trying to smile through it.

"Oh, you want children?" June asked smiling.

"One day, yes." Ziva responed. "What about you?"

"Well my boyfriend and I have been talking about it, but we both wanted to finish our education first. Since this research is going to be my doctorate paper, I think the waiting is almost over." June said happily.

"Ah that is nice." Ziva said smiling.

"What about you Ziva, do you have any one in your life."

Tony came to mind. She couldn't help it. _At lo levad. _She was not alone, she had someone in her life, but not like June was asking her. "No."

"You have no one in your life?" She asked sweetly.

This woman will be a great psychologist she figured. She had the piercing look that would feel like she is looking right in your soul, but she still made you feel safe and welcome. "It's complicated."

"Safe answer." She responded.

This irritated Ziva, it was no safe answer. It was the truth. What she had with Tony was complicated. Just because this 24 year old did not understand what kind of bond it creates saving each others life's and working on a high stressed job for eight years together. Ziva was about to speak her mind when June spook again.

"No is a easy answer, it's complicated is a safe answer, yes is the right answer, to explain is the courage's answer."

"There are people who are truly alone on this world." Ziva responded.

"There are people who truly feel alone on this world. They are not. The problem is that the people around them don't show them how special and treasured they are in this world. You are none of the people I just mentioned though. So what is it going to be, easy, safe, right or courage's?"

"You would be a very good shrink." Ziva said deciding she quite liked the maybe somewhat naïf woman sitting next to her.

"I hope so." June responed and Ziva thought carefully about her next words.

"I've a work partner. Who is in my life." She said softly.

**A/N: I've an idea as to how I want to continue this, are people interested yes or no?**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Only what's mine is mine. The rest belongs to the brilliant minds of NCIS.**

After giving away such a private part of her life Ziva decided to use all her interrogation skills that she learned from Mossad and Gibbs to good use and keep the conversation about June. June was happy to talk about her research and life so it wasn't that difficult.

After another two hours the flight attended announced that they were approaching final decent and requested everyone to turn off their electronics, put their chairs in an upright position and put away their tray tables. Ziva decided that she actually had a good time the past two hours talking to June and noticed that she wasn't looking forward to the taxi ride home.

She usually liked the taxi ride home; it gave her some time to reflect on her trip or vacation before normal life started again. She would be home around four thirty so she would have to order some take out because she did not feel like cooking. Chinese sounded great.

Together she walked with June to the baggage claim where they surprisingly didn't have to wait long before the first bags began to show up. June had gotten a cart because she brought three bags back with her after her long trip. Ziva had two what was unusual but she wanted to bring back some personal stuff from her father's house, the rest she had arranged to be put in storage by Mossad. After they both collected their bags they turned towards to the arrival doors.

June was excited to see her family after such a long time. She was going on and on about how her parents were making this big sign for her and how she couldn't wait to see her boyfriend.

"My dad is so silly, my mom told me last night that he has been on the phone with all his contacts telling them about my work and how I'm going to get published. He's so proud of me." June said smiling and for the third time in the past few hours Ziva's eyes started to fill with tears. This time however June had no time to notice because the doors opened and they were met with a big sign that read. **Welcome back sweet (dr) June! **June she started laughing and crying at the same time before running towards her family.

Ziva smiled sadly at the image of June hugging her father. She had not seen her father in two years before he came to visit her. She could not have imagined him greeting her like this if she came though. He would give her a kiss on her cheek before getting back to business if he would have done that at all.

"Hey!" Ziva heard coming from next to her and she stopped in her tracks before looking up, as she knew to whom that voice belonged to.

"Are you okay?" Tony asked worriedly as he saw Ziva's still lightly red eyes.

"I am fine, what are you doing here?" Ziva asked smiling, though a little taken aback by the fact that he was not only here but also showed this caring side of him that she was still getting used to.

Tony decided to let the I'm fine part of her words pass, she was clearly not fine, but starting an argument with her now won't get them anywhere and since she was smiling he at least didn't screw anything up, yet.

"Well since you took a cab towards the airport last week I figured you could use a ride home now." Tony responded

"How did you know what flight I was on?" Ziva asked.

"Well I am a very special agent remember?" Tony said grinning proudly and puffing out his chest.

"Meaning you had McGee track down my flight?" Ziva said seriously.

"No!" Tony responded playing hurt. To which Ziva just looked at him. "Okay I tried to ask McGee but Gibbs came in that second and told McGee to go help Abby, so I looked it up myself."

"That must have been really tough for you. That required you to do some actual work." Ziva said smiling again.

"Well you're worth the work and I wanted to know that you were all right." Tony responded and just like his _at lo levad_ it truly surprised and touched her, his openness his willingness to be there for her through anything. Again just like a week ago at she was at a loss of words, she just dropped her bags and gave him a hug.

_'Well this is going better than I thought' _ Tony thought to himself as he pulled Ziva closer to him. It hit him how much he had missed her the past week, it had been weird at the office with Vance being at home and deputy director Greg taking over while Vance is with his family, but most of all it was weird not seeing her when he came in in the morning or when they went for lunch or saying goodnight as they rode down the elevator together.

They both pulled back simultaneously but were saved from speaking when Ziva's name was called. Ziva slightly turned away from Tony to see June and a man whom Ziva presumed was her boyfriend jogging up to them.

"Ziva I'm so glad I caught up to you. I wanted to give you my number, I wanted to maybe do an interview with you for some extra insight in my research." June asked coming to a stand still. Her boyfriend stopping next to her and slinging his arm around June's shoulder.

"This is my boyfriend Justin, by the way." June said handing Ziva her card while her eyes fell to Tony.

Ziva took June's card, before shaking Justin's hand and introducing herself and Tony. "Ziva David, I met June on the plane and this is my partner Tony DiNozzo." To which all of them shook hands and June smiled knowingly to Ziva

"June, I don't think I have my card with me." Ziva said taking the card from June.

"Oh here is mine." Tony said, handing June his card. "I sit across from her at the bullpen, if you call me I'll find her for you."

"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, NCIS. Interesting" June said while looking at Tony's card. "Ziva told me about you."

"Has she now?" Tony responded grinning at Ziva and he could swear Ziva blushed a little bit, but her disregarded that thought. Ziva did not blush.

"June lets go home." June's father called from where the banner was still standing.

"Well that's our cue." June said. "It was nice meeting you and I'll talk to you soon."

"Bye." Tony and Ziva said in unison as they saw both Justin and June walk back towards June's family and Ziva couldn't help the small twinge she felt when June's father hugged her again. Looking like the happiest man alive.

"So you talked about me with a complete stranger?" Tony asked having spotted the far away look before it had time to fully form.

"No I did not." Ziva responded.

"Then why did she say you had?" Tony asked picking up one of her bags and reaching for the seconds one, but Ziva was faster and picked that one up.

"I mentioned a colleague, but I did not mention your name she just drawled her own conclusion." Ziva said as she started to walk towards the exit of the airport and before Tony could respond she changed the subject. "Where is your car parked?"

"In the short stay parking space." Tony responded mentioning with his hand in the general direction his car was parked. "So do you want me to drive you home?"

Ziva gave him a look, which Tony clearly interpreted as a 'DUH', but he decided to push on, she had not kicked or scorned him for the idea of picking her up so maybe she had appreciated him being there. So why not see if she appreciated his next idea.

"Well I was thinking, you have to stay up for another few hours to not get jetleg, how about we watch a movie at my place I'll order some chinees. That way you're not, uhm bored." Tony said.

Ziva coughed his slip, he was going to say alone. She studied him carefully trying to find the reason behind his invite. He was trying the act casually and was it not for his eyes that she got to know so well in the past eight years he would have pulled it off. He was trying to back up his statement, show her that she was not alone.

"That would be nice." Ziva answered. Not sure if that was the right decision, but she promised herself on the plane she would put in more of an effort and that was what she was doing right now. Ziva couldn't help but smile as Tony enthusiastically started spouting ideas for the movie they could watch.

**A/N: We're not done yet, I'm either going to do another chapter about their evening or I also have some ideas about turning this in a big multi chapter ****fix, but i'm not sure if I have the time. Do you have any preferences? let me know!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Enjoy. **

"Tony do you mind if I take a shower when we get to your place?" Ziva asked as she stared out of the window, watching but not really taking notice of the streets they drove through.

"Sure, no problem." Tony answered taking a sideway glance to Ziva. She had not said anything the past 20 minutes and he was a little worried about her. One moment she seemed perfectly fine, just like he expects of his Ziva, but the next she is a world away and he doesn't really recognize her.

Tony had seen Ziva deal with loss in many different ways in the past few years. He'd seen her sad, angry and maybe even relieved about a death, he'd seen her confused, shocked and hopeless of the injustice of it. This was different, to him she looked lost and if he was honest with himself he knew how to handle all the other reactions. But her being lost was something he wasn't sure how to help her, how to guide her back. He didn't know where she wanted to be guided.

Ziva started to realize how tired she was as they arrived at Tony's apartment. Mostly because he was out the car and slung one of her bags on his shoulder and had the other one in his hand before she even had time to close her car door behind her. Another sign of her sleepiness was her willingness to let him carry the bags for her.

Tony on his part was happy she let him help. He knew she would be perfectly fine carrying the bags up herself. He just wanted to show her that she didn't have to do everything by herself. He let her into his apartment and placed the bags around the corner near the door.

"How about I order some Chinese and find a good movie while you take a shower?" Tony asked.

"Yes." Ziva said picking up one of her bags that hold her clothing, before she walked towards his bathroom.

"Oh Tony?" She asked as she turned around.

"Yes?" Tony asked as he looked up from his phone in which he was looking up the number of the Chinese place down the block.

"Do you maybe have a warm sweater for me? I didn't pack any clothes for cold weather." Ziva said softly.

"Oh yeah. Let me get it for you." Tony said walking into his bedroom and grabbing one of his NCIS sweaters before giving it to Ziva.

Ziva just took it and nodded to him. Tony smiled his best charm smile but got no reaction out of her. Figuring to leave her to fight her own demons at least for now he got to order there dinner as he walked past all his movies to find the perfect one for them to see. Before deciding on Intouchables, it would let her get some emotion out if needed but was also funny enough to just enjoy and she would enjoy something international.

Ziva stood under the shower, leaning against the wall. It made her feel more awake and she was grateful for that, but it also brought the emotional whirlwind that she has been through to the forefront of her mind as there were no other distractions. Feeling safe and less alone in the somewhat familiar space after staying here before leaving for Israel she let her tears fall. It was a old trick she learned when she was a teenager. The water will mix with her tears. That way there would be no sign of red puffy eyes and no tear tracks on her face.

It wasn't until she felt like she got all her emotions on track that she turned of the shower. Yes she was going to put in more effort, but she was not going to cry and break down in front of him.

"The Chinese should be here in a few minutes." Tony said as he heard her footsteps approach and looked up. He couldn't help but appreciate how adorable she looked. Her hair was still wet from the shower, she was wearing leggings and she looked so small in his sweater it was endearing.

Ziva wanted to react, by noting that that was a quick delivery but than noticed the time. Almost forty-five minutes had passed since they arrived. So she settled for a smile and sat down on the couch next to him. Close enough to not be awkward but also far enough to still resemble some sort of professional co-workers. Though any one who would see them would not buy that for a second.

"What movie are we watching?" Ziva asked.

"Intouchables. Have you seen it?" Tony responded.

"No, but I've heard of it from a friend. She loved it." Ziva said turning to look at the TV a Tony grabbed the remote.

"Have you talked with said friend about me too?" Tony asked jokingly. Well half jokingly and half curious.

"Wouldn't you want to know." Ziva responded.

Tony was about to respond when the doorbell rang. He winked at her and went to open the door.

"One shrimp, one beef, two fried rice?" The pimply twenty year old said as Tony opened the door.

"Yes, thanks." Tony responded getting his wallet out of his back pocket, he paid the guy and took the plastic back with their food from him.

They watched the movie mostly in silence and some idle chitchat. Half way through the movie Tony went to throw away the Chinese food carton and when he came back he found that Ziva had stretched out and was now lying on his couch. She looked up at him daring him to say something about it. Tony just got a big grin on his face, happy that Ziva was so comfortable in his place. For the first time he realized that maybe it wasn't so bad if he would share his sanctuary with someone. He walked to the couch lifted her feet and just sat down with her feet in his lap without saying a word and continued to watch the movie.

When the movie was finished he looked towards Ziva to see what she thought of the movie only to see that she'd fallen asleep. Tony turned the dvd-player of with all intentions to take her home, but before he could turn of the tv he noticed the first Die Hard was on, it would only last about another 45 minutes he could bring her home afterwards right?

- TIVA -

Tony woke up startled by the alarm of his phone going of. Out of habit he moved his hand to the right where his nightstand is but his hand hit a lamp unexpectedly. Reflexes kicked in to stop the lamp from falling and he jerked upwards and to the side to safe it.

"Tony, what is going on." Ziva asked having been woken up by Tony's sudden movements, but to tired to open her eyes she just tried to get back to sleep.

Tony put the lamp back in his place and found his phone in his pocket, his morning alarm glaring up at him. "Well, I think we fell asleep."

"Just answer your phone so I can go back to sleep." Ziva responded.

"Yeah as much as I like some more sleep, we have to be at work in two hours." Tony said finally turning of his alarm.

This woke Ziva up and she shot upright. She took in the light that came through the window, saw the clock in the corner of his room telling her it was 5 am.

"Don't worry. I usually go for a run in the morning, so we have more than enough time for me to get ready and then go to your place for you to get ready." Tony said

Ziva nodded stretching to get rid of the stiffness in her body. Even though the couch had not been as comfortable as sleeping in a real bed she had slept better then in the last few days.

"I'll go put on the coffee machine and take a shower." Tony having no problem with the one sided conversation.

Tony went on with his morning routine on autopilot. It wasn't until he came back into the kitchen taking a mug out of the cupboard to put under the coffee machine, but already seeing one there did he realize again that he was not alone.

"Thank you." Tony said taking the mug turning around to see Ziva sitting on his couch holding the picture frame she got him for the picture of his mother and him in her hands.

"You are welcome." She said quickly standing up and placing the frame back where it rested on his piano.

"I didn't know you had it framed." Ziva said.

"Well two days after I showed you the pictures, this picture frame showed up at my desk. The picture fitted perfectly." Tony answered.

Ziva nodded happy she did the right thing by buying it. "You almost ready to go?" Ziva asked.

"Yes. Just let me finish my coffee then we can go." Tony responded to which Ziva started to grab her coat.

Tony took one last big gulp of his coffee and place the mug in the sink to wash later before jogging to the door to catch up with Ziva. They walked out the door, this time Ziva carrying both bags and Tony locked up behind him. A strange feeling of happiness came over him as he turned around an locked eyes with Ziva. Leaving together.

The ride to Ziva apartment was quick in the still light morning traffic of DC. It was ten minutes to six when they arrived meaning they had about forty minutes before they had to leave. Tony was out of the car before Ziva and took one of the bags and handed them to Ziva before taking the other and throwing it over his shoulder.

"You do not have to come up." Ziva responded holding her other hand out for her bag.

"Don't be silly, what kind of gentleman would I be if I let you carry both bags up those stairs." Tony asked.

"One that know I am perfectly capable carrying both bags." Ziva answered.

"Yes but being a DiNozzo, means I know that you're capable but doing it anyway." Tony said jokingly closing the car door and walking up the stairs.

Ziva shook her head but followed Tony anyway. Ziva was about to open her front door when she noticed the slightest of scratches around the keyhole.

"Tony." Ziva said pointing at it. Tony drew his gun and let Ziva open the door. Tony entered first, quickly clearing room by room. He met Ziva back in her livingroom.

"Somebody has been here." Ziva said.

"Are you sure?" Tony asked. There was no clear sign of anything being disturbed.

"Yes, my laptop bag has been turned around. I had flowers in a vase on my table. The vase is now gone." Ziva answered and the more she looked around the clearer it got to her that this was not how she left her apartment. There were no big signs, but as far as Ziva could see everything was put back on the same place, it was the small details they got wrong though. Some books were out of order in her bookcase. Pillows were switched.

"I'll call Gibbs." Tony responded as Ziva walked further into her apartment.

Gibbs picket up at the second ring. "Gibbs."

"Boss it's me. I'm at Ziva's somebody broke into her apartment while she was in Israel." Tony said quickly.

"I'm on my way. Don't touch anything. Is Ziva okay?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah she's just looking if something is missing." Tony said as he followed her towards the kitchen.

"She's only looking for that now? Her flight came in yesterday." Gibbs answered. Tony froze, eyes big, not really knowing how to respond.

"Well?" Gibbs asked and Tony could hear him starting his car.

"Ziva spent the night at my place boss." Tony answered, knowing he was going to get a serious head slap when Gibbs got there.

**A/N: So i decided and went with my multi fic idea. I've some good ideas and cannot wait to see them play out here. Let me know what you think and what you expect. **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: It's a small chapter but wanted to put it out there anyway.**

Tony put his phone away and turned around to find Ziva starring at him. "Gibbs is on his way." He said with an attempt at a smile.

"What did Gibbs say." Ziva asked.

"To not touch anything and that he's on his way. Knowing Gibbs he'll be here in less then 10 minutes." Tony answered shrugging his shoulders.

"I mean, what did he say about me spending the night at your place." Ziva asked, having not realized before how uncomfortable she was with the idea of Gibbs knowing that she slept on Tony's couch.

"Nothing, he just hung up." Tony responded.

"Well there is nothing to say, because nothing happened." Ziva answered. They were both adults and Gibbs had no right to have an opinion on where she slept. Still it gave her a pause, not being sure of Gibbs's reaction and she was not sure why it meant as much to her as it did.

"Did you find anything missing?" Tony asked looking around the apartment, pushing thoughts of Gibbs to the back of his mind.

"Without opening any drawers or touching anything I only noticed there is a picture missing." Ziva said mentioning to her bedroom.

"What picture?" Tony asked. Ziva just looked at him a little unsettled as she walked towards the bags she brought back from Israel she opened one of them.

Ziva pushed some things around before finding what she needed. Just before she pulled out the frame a piece of yellow paper caught his attention, as it seem to appear in the bag out of nowhere. Before he could register it completely Ziva had al ready zipped up the bag and was walking towards him with the picture frame.

"This one." Ziva answered and handed him the picture frame. Tony took a look at it. It was a picture of a beautiful woman having her arms around two young girls. The oldest one of the girls he recognized immediately as Ziva. The other one was probably Tali which made the woman in the picture her…

"Is this your mom?" Tony asked softly and Ziva's eyes became watery with unshed tears as she nodded. Tony wasn't sure what to say, he had heard Ziva talk about her mom a total of one time and even then she hadn't said much. He understood, he hadn't been any different.

"It's the only picture I had of her. I found this one in my father's office. I had the exact same one in my bedroom but it's gone now." Ziva responded.

Tony wanted nothing more than to just take her into his arms and just hide her from the injustice of the world. Before he could act though Gibbs walked into her apartment.

"What's missing?" Gibbs asked as he looked around in her apartment.

"As far as I can see without disrupting the crime scene, only a picture." Ziva responded.

"Who would take just a picture though?" Tony asked.

"Depends on the picture." Gibbs answered and Tony turned the picture frame he was still holding for Gibbs to see.

"This is a copy." Tony answered.

"Bodner." Gibbs said and Ziva nodded in agreement.

"I was thinking the same thing." She said

"From now on you're staying with me Ziver, I don't want you going anywhere alone." Gibbs said letting his trained eye go around the room again.

Ziva looked shocked, but it was Tony who spoke first. "Your place Boss?" Gibbs looked at him with a slight frown on his face, silently asking or maybe even daring him to come up with a better idea.

"I thought maybe." Tony started but was interrupted by Ziva.

"I just stay here at my own apartment." Ziva said

"No." Both Tony and Gibbs answered simultaneously.

"What?" Ziva asked angrily.

"Ziva he knows where you live, he's been here it's not safe." Tony tried to reason with her.

"I can take care of myself." Ziva answered.

"Listen Ziva, we need to figure out what Bodner is up to and stay one step ahead of him until then I want you in a safe place." Gibbs said leaving no room for argument.

Gibbs' phone rang before he could say anything else. "Gibbs." He answered and hung up rather quickly.

"There has been a murder. Tony."

"I can stay here with Ziva to sort this all out." Tony responded, but Gibbs shook his head.

"No. You go with McGee to the crime scene." Gibbs said. "He should be here any minute now."

As if on cue McGee appeared in the doorway. "What can I do?" He asked.

"We're going to a crime scene probie." Tony said mentioning back towards the door. McGee looked a bit confused but nodded and turned back around.

"DiNozzo." Gibbs called as Tony walked out of Ziva's apartment.

"Yes Boss." He said turning around.

"Don't screw it up." Gibbs said and Tony nodded. He grinned quickly at Ziva but got no reaction and left the room. He had handled crime scenes alone before. When Gibbs was away, but he still felt like he had something to prove.

Gibbs turned to Ziva and she started speaking. "I, I mean we came here about twenty minutes ago. I noticed small scratches at the door, Tony cleared the apartment before I went in. There are just small signs but someone went through my whole apartment." Ziva said looking around her.

"I wasn't sure that it was Bodner until I found this instead of the picture." Ziva continued as she walked towards her bags by the door and retrieved the yellow piece of paper she had put in there when she went for the picture frame. It was a little bit bigger than a post-it note and Ziva handed it to Gibbs.

'_You never saw him as a brother, that probably made him easy to kill.'_

Gibbs crumbled up the piece of paper before putting it in his pocket. "How did he find out?"

"I don't know, but it's his hand writing." Ziva responded.

"Damn it." Gibbs said.

"Gibbs how does he know I killed Ari? Nobody knows that." Ziva asked.

**A/N: Let me know what you think and what you would like to see!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'm sorry for the long wait. I keep working on this. I promise. The updates might not be as regulated as I would like, but they will come! Still don't owe NCIS...**

The metro PD officer that came to Ziva's apartment to take Ziva's report for the break in took some convincing. But in the end he crumbled by Gibbs' stare that he would be the official lead on paper, but the investigation was in the hands of NCIS.

After a three hours searching through her apartment Ziva concluded there were three things missing; the pictures, her backup gun and the Star of David necklace that had belonged to Tali. At each place she found a note, on the place where here backup gun was tapped behind her bed the note read.

'_You were no backup to him, now you have no backup.' _

In her jewellery box was a note saying;

'_You wanted to be an American, so this is of no value.' _

She wanted to scream at that one, she was ready to kill someone. Being an American had nothing to do with her religion. Next to that it had belonged to Tali. Ziva didn't have many things that reminded her of her family and Bodner had just taken two of those things away.

"Snap out of it David." Gibbs said. "This is what he wants. We need you with a clear head."

"I don't understand what he wants from me. I thought he was out for my father's job. Maybe even to start a war. What does he win by coming after me?" Ziva asked Gibbs, as the unsettling feeling in her stomach only grew.

"I'm not sure, but we'll figure it out." Gibbs responded.

-TIVA-

Working the crime scene had taken longer that usual. Not only were they two men short, but also Tony's mind kept drifting of to Ziva. He wished he could just be there for her. Her father just passed away and he had no idea how to help her with that and now Bodnar had broken into her apartment. He was at a loss of what to do.

"I asked the MP's to keep the crime scene secure, so I think we're good to go." McGee said as he packed up his camera.

"Good, I've the numbers of all the witnesses in case Gibbs wants to talk to them again." Tony responded and slung his bag over his shoulder before walking back towards the NCIS truck. He let McGee drive so he could get his thoughts in order.

"How come you were earlier at Ziva's apartment than I was? You live farther away than me." McGee asked as he started the truck.

"Maybe Gibbs called me before you." Tony answered shrugging his shoulder.

"How much time could there have been in between calls. Two minutes? You live 15 minutes away from Ziva I only around seven." McGee pushed on.

"I don't know, McNosy." Tony responded, knowing McGee would not let this go. Not that Tony would ever admit it out loud but McGee had become a great detective.

"Beside, I checked Ziva's plane landed yesterday. Why would she only call Gibbs now?" McGee added.

"You should ask her." Tony responded.

"I will." McGee answered looking smugly at Tony who just pulled a face.

"Very mature Tony." McGee said. "You know what, I'll ask Abby to ask Ziva, she is much better getting information out of her than I am."

"You can't Abby can't hold a secret she'll tell everyone." Tony said quickly.

"Why is it a secret?" McGee questioned.

Tony was ready to slap himself. There was no way this would not come out. He just didn't want everyone in the office to know. If McGee would ask Abby to figure it out everyone would know, but McGee wasn't much better at keeping secrets. Tony let go of a sigh, nothing happened so it didn't have to be a secret right. It was just that the scuttlebutt in the office had the tendency to blow up in his face.

"I picked Ziva up at the airport yesterday and we fell asleep on the couch while watching a movie." Tony said quickly.

"Yeah just like you slept on the couch in Paris." McGee said sarcastically.

"Yes exactly." Tony said.

"Ziva, told Abby that she slept on the couch." McGee said raising his eyebrow at him.

Tony sighed, he should have kept his mouth shut and let the scuttlebutt take its course and he could just deny everything.

"I was lying I asked for the bed, she conceded and slept on the couch. Last night we both fell asleep on the couch okay?" Tony said a little agitated, but covered it up by smiling his signature grin. McGee would buy his lie right?

McGee took his eyes of the road for a second to look at Tony. After working together for almost 10 years he could read Tony like an open book. He knew Tony was lying but he could also see the worry in his eyes and decided to leave him alone for now and drive back in silence. There was just no way he was going to keep this from Abby.

Tony was grateful for the silence. This would usually be the time he would chat McGee's ears off, but his thoughts were filled by one Ziva David. What would Bodnar want from her? He could understand Bodnar going after her father but why would he stay in the US and go after Ziva? Letting go of a sigh he figured he just had to wait till they got back to see what Ziva and Gibbs had figured out.

-TIVA-

"What do we got?" Gibbs asked the moment McGee and Tony came out of the elevator. Tony's eyes immediately went to Ziva's desk, which he found empty. Her computer was on, so he knew she was somewhere around here. That fact did nothing to help the knot that had formed in his stomach.

"Navy lieutenant Harmon Roberts found dead, by his wife after she returned from a family visit." Tony said as he placed his bag next to his desk and stored his gun away in the desk drawer. McGee did the same and took out the memory drive from the camera and pulled up the pictures on the plasma for Gibbs to see.

"Wife told me they had some marriage trouble but they were working it out. She was holding something back though. Talked to her parents she was staying with them in New York for the past week. Couldn't have been her." Tony continued.

"The lieutenant was shot twice, Ducky's preliminary was that the shots were COD. He got back three months ago from a nine months deployment to the USS Colorado. MP's are holding the crime scene in case you want to go back there Boss." McGee answered as he clicked through the crime scene picture so that Gibbs could see.

"I also spoke with the ship commander, he should be up in MTAC in ten minutes." Tony said looking at his watch.

Gibbs nodded before making his way to the stairs. "McGee..."

"Checking the financials and phone records." McGee said before Gibbs could give him the order.

"I'll check the wife's travel arrangements, if she really went to New York." Tony said and Gibbs even cracked a little smile when he had his back turned towards them "Boss?"

Gibbs stopped on the top of the stairs to look expectantly at Tony. "Well?"

"How is Ziva doing?" Tony asked still feeling a bit off as Ziva was not at her desk.

"She's at the bathroom." Gibbs answered shaking his head. The small proud feeling was replaced by a small fondness because of the somewhat adolescent behaviour of his senior agent.

"Yes Boss." Tony answered and sat down behind his desk, before flipping open his phone. Using the reflection to see Gibbs walk up the stairs and into MTAC.

"I'll be right back." He said standing up the moment the door closed after Gibbs.

"What?" McGee responded but Tony didn't respond. Seeing as he was alone in their part of the bullpen he figured it would be a good time to call Abby and tell her what happened.

**A/N: Let me know what you think. Especially of the Tony and McGee interaction! I want to do them justice and not sure if I did.**


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